I could do with this. I have a ‘B’ standard Centrino lappie and am finding it a bit slow, with all the other computers on the network being ‘G’. So I could get a USB adaptor and do this mod, and get a good signal, with it being out of sight around the back. I can’t stand those PCMCIA cards which stick out so much and constantly flash.

Posted at 12:36 pm on Jul 15th, 2006 by Craig

nice hack. there are so many external antenna modifications for wifi adaptors, you’d think the mfg’s would catch on by now. must be against fcc regulations…

Posted at 1:57 pm on Jul 15th, 2006 by andrew

Does anyone have a link to the bluetooth antenna mod? I’ve bene looking ofr it but no one has it anymore.
Thank you.

Posted at 4:41 pm on Jul 15th, 2006 by mastershake916

Well done!
That looks (and I’m sure works) very nice!

Posted at 8:39 pm on Jul 15th, 2006 by strider_mt2k

I was thinking of posting a hack similar to this for the USB netgear WG111v2 which has heat issues and could use a signal boost. I stripped off the bulky silver case on mine, coated the bottom with tough epoxy (to protect the components) added a thin, conforming to-220 transistor heatsink (1.5mm profile with bent steel “wings”) to the large hot chip on top and stitched on a panel antenna via inverted U. FL connector (the connector on the device is a female hirose/ U. FL , which is strange since most cards use male type connectors. I overcame this problem by sticking a small slice of a pin in the center of the pigtail. Unfortunately, the ~30ma output power is pathetic. The epoxy and heatsink modifications will extend the life of any usb wifi adaptor, since heat and corrosion can only lead to entropic demise. The best part is, since the profile has been minimized, I can now fit devices in any adjacent usb ports. To attach the heatsink, use thermal epoxy throughout or a combination of thermal paste and regular epoxy (not necessarily mixed together). Do not put epoxy directly on the leads of any complicated looking ICs (ie, +28 tiny pins), since the tiny pF capacitance inherent in most epoxies can affect chip operation (this is not a concern for most chips, don’t worry about it).

Posted at 12:04 am on Jul 16th, 2006 by This is L

I was thinking of posting a hack similar to this for the USB netgear WG111v2 which has heat issues and could use a signal boost. I stripped off the bulky silver case on mine, coated the bottom with tough epoxy (to protect the components) added a thin, conforming to-220 transistor heatsink (1.5mm profile with bent steel “wings”) to the large hot chip on top and stitched on a panel antenna via inverted U. FL connector (the connector on the device is a female hirose/ U. FL , which is strange since most cards use male type connectors. I overcame this problem by sticking a small slice of a pin in the center of the pigtail. Unfortunately, the ~30ma output power is pathetic. The epoxy and heatsink modifications will extend the life of any usb wifi adaptor, since heat and corrosion can only lead to entropic demise. The best part is, since the profile has been minimized, I can now fit devices in any adjacent usb ports. To attach the heatsink, use thermal epoxy throughout or a combination of thermal paste and regular epoxy (not necessarily mixed together). Do not put epoxy directly on the leads of any complicated looking ICs (ie, +28 tiny pins), since the tiny pF capacitance inherent in most epoxies can affect chip operation (this is not a concern for most chips, don’t worry about it).

Posted at 12:16 am on Jul 16th, 2006 by This is L

#2 IIRC any antenna/transmitter combination must be individualy approved by the fcc (that’s why cards have so many wird and wondefull types of conectors. it’s a question of why the manufacturers would bother getting antennas aproved

Posted at 6:57 am on Jul 16th, 2006 by giskard

#5, I have a Netgear WG111T as well; I’m using it this moment. In fact, we have three of them here. I must admit that it’s always been very good to me, the signal with all three is much, much stronger than comperable USB/cardbus designs I’ve seen. Post up your article, though -I’d love to see it. There’s no such thing as reception that’s “too good” lol, and it sounds like you’ve put in a lot of work

Posted at 8:26 am on Jul 16th, 2006 by Liam Parry

I will not post an article, because it is too simple to be a mod, but here are photographs:
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/thisisl/CIMG2000.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/thisisl/CIMG2002.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/thisisl/CIMG2003.jpg

By the way, I meant 30mW, not 30mA. That’s what insomnia’s all about.

Posted at 10:43 am on Jul 16th, 2006 by This is L

@ This is L – I like the heatsink approach, and I considered adding them to cool down the ralink chips in several of my USB adapters. The buggers run way hot and it makes me wonder what the lifespan will be like if I don’t take steps to cool it, but in all likelyhood it will last until it 802.11n hits the shelves ;)

Posted at 1:16 pm on Jul 16th, 2006 by ronObvious

will have to try this with Nintendo ds. sometimes its wifi reception is weaker than PC so could come in handy.

Posted at 7:55 am on Jul 19th, 2006 by Ds-flash

I’m sorry, I don’t understand what exactly this does, helps, improves, or maintains. :
Other then hiding the lights.

I have a Desktop only, I’m assuming this is useless for PCI wifi cards with Male RP-SMA antennas, and female RP-SMA cards.

Can anyone help me out? Perhaps a link?

Scarslilpyro on xfire stat_padder@yahoo.com if anyone can give me some info, thanks.

Posted at 9:55 pm on Jul 28th, 2006 by scarslilpyro_on_xfire

hi I WAS WONDERING IF ANY HAVE DONE THE EXTERNAL ANTENA TO A CNET CWD- 845 USB CARD THE BOARD CIRCUIT IS ALMOS THE SAME CHIPS ARE BUT THE WELDING PART IS DIFFERENT, THANKS.

Posted at 9:35 am on Oct 11th, 2008 by JOSE V.